Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Corporate Trend Alert- Picturing 21st Century Workplace!

Centuries ago, hunter
gatherers possessed farms. 20th century manufacturing era reflected the start
of factories. And then the services era brought a wave of snazzy corporate
offices boasting glass and chrome. Do you have any clues on how the tomorrow’s workplace
will look like?

It’s here! Driven by lively
startups & scrappy entrepreneurs to passionate freelancers &
consultants, it’s going to be the era of virtual world leveraging the power of networking.

The DEN of the future entrepreneurs!

In the past week, I spent
time with startups in their lovely den only to find clues of 21st
century workplace! They’re none other than what are known as co-working
hubs. Increasing number of startup businesses are showing interest in
setting up offices in various co-working hubs.

What
is a co-working hub?

Co-working hubs are shared
office spaces. You can book space on a per seat basis which is much cheaper
than the enormous rents or buying a place and even getting a plush ambience!

Start-ups are undoubtedly becoming
a hot favorite so much so that young, old & experienced executives are trading
their comfy jobs for a rough ride building businesses with these startups. No
wonder, co-working hubs are the best place to spot such start-ups.

You’ll find them mushrooming
all over. Examples include, 91Springboard, Stirringminds & Social Offline In
Delhi. There’s also Bombay Connect and The Playce in Mumbai. All have of expanding
to multiple cities & fast. Bangalore also known as India’s Silicon Valley is
the startup hub which seems far ahead with such exciting facilities.

What’s
special about these co-working hubs which have made them so popular?

There
are 5 reasons-

1)They offer great flexibility while startups scale
up or scale down. Here, one needs to book space on a per seat basis which helps
to cut significant costs related to buying or renting a place & it’s very easy!

2)Co-working hub reflects a plug-and-play
model. It cuts down all administrative hassles which distracts several startups
and tends to eat into their precious energy and time.

3)Talent hiring & retention is a big issue
today where young entrepreneurs prefer a hot-and-happening work place. And for bootstrapped
businesses it’s a hard one if gone by renting or buying a place! In such
scenarios, co-working hubs act like a boon offering great place to work!

Boringbrands.com’s Aakriti
Bhargava says, “To operate out of trendy co-working hubs are major drivers to help
her attract & retain talent.”